‘Free Willy’ bill jumps to Senate for approval

A bill that would ban whale and dolphin captivity in Canada cleared the Senate’s Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans this morning by a vote of 9-5.

The sponsor of Bill S-203, Independent Sen. Murray Sinclair introduced several amendments, all of which were supported by the same margin.

The report will now be tabled for consideration at the next sitting of the Senate and then move to the report stage. Senators will have an opportunity to debate what’s been proposed and vote on it. If the report is adopted, it will move on to third reading.

“I’m looking forward to it going back to the Senate for full deliberation and third reading,” Sinclair said. “I think that the fight is not over yet. I think there will still be opposition raised to the passage of the bill.”

In a previous interview with iPolitics, he’d spoken out against backroom antics by Conservative senators to quietly kill the bill.

“Nobody is doing anything improper — and I don’t want to suggest that,” he said today. “But from the perspective of Independent senators who are not here carrying the banner of a political party, either on the government side or opposition side, our concern is that, as senators we feel we have an obligation to deal with the legislation that is before us. Any delay in our consideration and our ability to vote on a bill is a matter that causes us great concern.”

“We need to ensure that we expedite the movement of the bill through the chamber so it gets to the House in order to be considered by members there. It’s been a long time to get to this point, but we still have a long way to go.”

This bill was first tabled in June of 2015 by Liberal Sen. Wilfred Moore with the goal of phasing out the keeping of whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity in Canada, with an exception for rescues and rehabilitation. When he reached the mandatory retirement age in January, Sinclair took over for him.

“At the time I said that in order for it to pass, both from my own consideration and my support of it, as well as the support of others, we needed to change this bill to make it better and I think we’ve done that,” Sinclair said of his amendments.

The purpose of the bill is to criminalize the captivity of whales and dolphins in Canada. One amendment put forward today would make it an offence punishable by summary conviction instead of an indictable offence, also subject to a fine of up to $200,000.

It has a grandfather clause for those animals that are already in captivity and permits legitimate research, as well as the rescue of animals in distress.

“There is nothing here that is going to criminalize the conduct of researchers,” Sinclair said.

He also introduced a clause to recognize Indigenous treaty rights and s.35 of the Constitution.

“This is to ensure that Indigenous people in Canada know this is not intended to derogate rights that are protected under s. 35,” he said.

That addresses an issue raised at committee in the spring: the need for aboriginal consultations. One section of the bill would amend the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act to prohibit imports and exports of cetaceans to and from Canada. Andrew Burns, a lawyer for Marineland in Ontario, appeared before the committee in mid-May and argued the bill intrudes into issues of constitutionally protected Inuit rights, specifically around the sale of narwhal tusks and harvesting wildlife.

He said the park’s position is that the legal ‘duty to consult’ with the Inuit had not been fulfilled.

At a June 8 meeting of the committee, Conservative Sen. Don Plett picked up where Marineland had left off and raised the issue of aboriginal consultations again.

This morning, five Indigenous senators were present and voted in favour of all amendments — and moving the bill along.

“I will not tell you (their presence) was deliberate. I will not tell you it wasn’t deliberate,” Sinclair said with a smile. “I can only tell you that’s the way it happened. I can assure you though that all Indigenous senators were consulted about the clause and they all expressed concern when the issue first came to light. I indicated that in my view there was a way to deal with it and this was the best way.”

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies supported Sen. Moore out of the gate and today CEO Barbara Cartwright said she’s confident the bill will pass the Senate. It’s the House of Commons that will be the challenge.

“Certainly the continued antics of Don Plett and the Conservatives around an ‘un-understandable’ defence of Marineland, almost as if they’re lobbying on behalf of Marineland, seems to me to highlight an issue or a problem with the way the process is happening,” she said.

“I’m just thrilled that the nine senators who voted positively each time didn’t allow that to move forward or influence their decision about how important it is to ban the captivity of marine mammals in Canada. I’m hoping the amendments don’t allow for the movement of sperm and embryos to allow captive breeding to continue. That’s going to be their next move if they can’t bring wild animals in.”

Sinclair is under no illusions about an easy swim from here.

“Not all independent senators are in support of the legislation. They still need to understand it. I think senators in the other caucuses need to understand what this bill is all about.”

They also need to grasp the public support for the bill that’s out there, he said.

“Each of us on the committee have probably received a few thousand emails, generally in support of the bill. There are quite a lot of Canadians out there who want this to pass. I recognize the importance of it.”

Supporters of Bill S-203, a whale and captivity bill, show their support outside the Senate of Canada Victoria Building on Wellington St. in Ottawa on Thursday, October 26, 2017. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice, said while the aquarium industry has many senators on its side and seems to be doing a good job of lobbying them, “the power of the millions of Canadians who want to see this bill passed, who want to reasonable protections in place for whales and dolphins, will far outweigh the two businesses (Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium) that confine cetaceans.”

She said around the world, the captivity of cetaceans and other large animals is on its way out.

“Canada has an opportunity to be a world leader in protecting these animals. We should seize that opportunity. We don’t have a very strong record internationally on animal protection, in fact we have one of the worst. With Bill s-203, Canada has a clear and easy opportunity to take a big leap and become a world leader.”

The lawsuit alleges the OSPCA launched a criminal investigation against Marineland last year for “improper purposes” and with the intention of harming the Niagara Falls, Ont., amusement park’s reputation.

The investigation culminated with the laying of 11 animal cruelty charges against Marineland, which were then withdrawn this summer.